Prof Li Bennich Björkman - Putin, his cronies and the madness of war in Ukraine

In this hour-long episode meet and hear Li Bennich-Björkman, Professor at the Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University here in Sweden talk about her experiences in academia. She talks about the challenges facing her fears as she applied in 2007 and became the first female professor at the Department of Government at Uppsala University, and in the following year she became the first woman appointed as Skyttean Professor of Eloquence and Government. This appointment meant that together with her family she was provided with an official residence in the 18th century building called Skytteanum in Uppsala, Sweden, where she still resides today.

Hear her share her thoughts about the madness of the war between Putin and his cronies representing Russia and Ukraine. What will it take for peace to happen between Russian and Ukraine and why is Ukraine important to Russia?

Her passion for history and especially about the Baltic states is fascinating to listen to. She talks about the importance of NATO and reasons why Ukraine never joined NATO while Baltic countries such as Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia did already in 2004. She shares her thoughts about why Sweden’s NATO application is still on hold.

She shares her concern about how Russian propaganda has been found in one of Sweden’s largest newspapers and her concerns about academic freedom here in Sweden.

For more information about this brilliant academic please note the references below.

Researcher Profile:

Li Bennich-Björkman https://www.katalog.uu.se/profile/?id=xx3449

Li Bennich-Björkman: Academic freedom fighter  (22 May 2018) https://www.uu.se/en/news/article/?id=13548&typ=artikel#:~:text=The%20Skyttean%20Professorship%20is%20probably,an%20internationally%20renowned%20political%20scientist.

Bennich-Björkman, Li., & Sergiy Kurbatov (2019). When the future came: the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of national memory in post-Soviet history textbooks. Ibidem-Verlag

Bennich-Björkman, Li (2017) Post-Soviet Developments: Reflections on Complexity and Patterns of Political Orders. Debatte, ISSN 0965-156X, E-ISSN 1469-3712

Bennich-Björkman, Li (2017) Academic leadership: Embracing uncertainty and diversity by building communication and trust. Handbook of research on leadership and creativity, 419-434

Bennich-Björkman, L. (2017) Sörja ett liv, leva ett annat: om flyktingens mörker och ljus (‘Mourning one life, living another: on the refugee’s darkness and light’) Appell Förlag, Sverige.

The book builds on interviews Li and other researchers conducted over a period of 20 years, among the Estonians who came to Sweden in 1944 and among the Bosnians who fled the war in the Balkans in the early 1990s.

Youtube:

(14 March 2022) English (1:34min)

Li Bennich-Björkman, Johan Skytte Professor in political science, Uppsala University, Uppsala,Sweden – message from Swedish Academic Community. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHRY0RrpNTs

(11 December, 2018) English (15:56min)

Why Academic Freedom Matters – Li Bennich-Björkman -TedUniversity Luxemburg (15.56min)) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9DazNWjouU

(28 October, 2022) Swedish (1:17:09min)

Li Bennich-Björkman: Varför så olika? Ukraina och Baltikums sovjetiska år och vägen till pluralism –Arrangerat av CEMUS, Centrum för miljö- och utvecklingsstudier vid Uppsala unversitet och SLU, Folkuniversitetet i Uppsala och Stadsbibliotek Uppsala.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkeRP-9Htl8&t=3576s

(20 September 2020) Swedish (43:37min)

Li Bennich-Björkman: Sörja ett liv, leva ett annat. Folkrörelsearkivet för Uppsala län. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v4Ocxt3uMY

( 24 Maj, 2021) Swedish (33:24min)

6 Majsymposium 2019 Forskarens och lärarens friheter Li Bennich Björkman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh8Nv0VC2VE